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“Of course they are.”
“You should’ve heard the rumor mill when Ellis moved in.”
I raised my eyebrows, interest piqued. “Yeah? What was that like?”
She waved a hand dismissively. “You know how people are. He had a reputation for being a bad boy in high school. I don’t think he got in trouble too much. It was more of an attitude thing. That and the hair. When he came back, people wondered if he was on house arrest or something. Especially because he’s so tight-lipped about Eva.”
I frowned, brow dipping low. “Eva?”
“Sorry, I thought you knew. Eva is his ex-wife.”
“Oh.” I knew he was divorced but I hadn’t given it much thought past that. “Yeah, he mentioned being divorced.”
Her eyebrows shot up. “He did?” When I nodded, she tilted her head quickly to the side and nodded appreciatively. “That’s impressive. I think that’s more than he’s said to most people about it. Voluntarily at least.”
“Guess I’m just lucky.”
“Or irresistible.” She winked.
Something churned inside me. “So he’s straight then?”
“Bi, I guess. Or pan? I’m not sure what label he puts on it these days but he’s dated multiple genders. Or, at least, he did before he was married. Just happened to settle down with a woman. Briefly.”
My body was hot, burning with curiosity. “How long was he married?”
“Seven years? Eight? Something like that.”
I let out a quiet whistle. “That’s a long time. Do you know what happened?” I realized I was prying and it was none of my business, but I was desperately curious and Lena seemed to be more comfortable talking about it than her brother had been.
She shrugged. “He won’t say. Something bad, I guess. They’re not communicating anymore. He’s always saying they don’t share property or kids, so he has no reason to stay in touch with her. I don’t know. If I’d been married for the better part of a decade, I think I’d try to stay friends. Don’t you?”
“It could’ve been a bad breakup. You never know.” I wanted to speculate if someone had cheated or something catastrophic had happened, but that was definitely a step too far.
“Oh well.” Lena stood and gathered her trash. “Ready to grab some tacos and hit the shop?”
I smiled and nodded, my stomach in knots for some reason. “Let’s do it.”
Chapter Six
Ellis
As I was sitting at the desk in the back room of the Emmages, sketching out my design for the following day, I heard the jingling of the stupid bell we had over the shop door, alerting me that someone had just opened the front door. I tried to ignore it and stay focused, but a moment later, Garrett was calling my name loud enough to be heard over the buzzing of machines and low rumble of chatter in the shop as a couple of other artists worked.
“Ellis! You’ve got company.”
With a sigh, I pushed my things aside and stood. “Coming,” I called back. I hoped to hell it wasn’t tomorrow’s customer coming to see if he could get an early glimpse of his design. I wasn’t anywhere near ready for that. When I came around the corner, though, I was pleasantly surprised to see my sister standing there flirting with Garrett, a comically large bag from our favorite taco place in one hand. I was less pleasantly surprised to see Kieran there with her, wearing fitted jeans and a snug V-neck—he looked good, but he was shifting from foot to foot and glancing around like he didn’t know where to let his gaze fall.
“Hey there,” I said, wrapping Lena in a big hug. I gave her a genuine smile and forced myself to keep that smile fixed on my face when I looked at Kieran and nodded. We hadn’t exactly parted on the best terms that morning after he’d rearranged our living room without talking to anyone about it first, and I still held some residual annoyance over the whole thing. Still, they’d brought tacos—which I hoped were for me—and that had to count for something.
“What are you doing here?”
Lena lifted the bag and grinned. “Thought you might want dinner.”
Kieran gave me a small, sheepish wave and a nod. “Hi.”
My stomach growled then and I laughed. “Dinner sounds amazing. Thank you. Have you two eaten?”
She nodded. “We ate at the taco truck before we came.”
